Duplicate but different Cat Axis items

I have a column chart where the data coming from the DB has some valid data that confuses Kendo. The data for the Category Axis is a list of merchants. There happens to be a few merchants with the exact same name, but different merchant IDs. How can I show "duplicate" merchant names in the category axis? Is there a way to identify uniqueness by the merchant id and not the merchant name, where merchant name is displayed on the category axis?
Thanks,
--Ed